Fun times are brewing:
A Louisville businessman has scheduled a press conference in Frankfort Wednesday to announce whether he’ll run for the U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Republican primary.
A news release said Matt Bevin will announce his intentions at 10 a.m. at the State Capitol, kicking off a three-day event with eight campaign stops across the state.
Bevin, who is a partner at a Louisville-based hedge fund, is a political newcomer but has been considering the race
for months, saying tea partiers were urging him to run because McConnell had simply been senator for too long and had become too enmeshed in Washington.
Although Bevin hasn't formally announced his candidacy, all signs are pointing to him making a bid. In recent days, he's met with national conservative groups and booked airtime slated to begin this week.
Mitch McConnell's campaign has already started unloading on Bevin:
After rumors surfaced of Bevin’s plans to run, McConnell’s campaign manager, Jesse Benton, said in the statement Friday that “Matthew Griswold Bevin is not a Kentucky conservative, he is merely an East Coast con man.”
The "East Coast" line is apparently a reference to the fact that Bevin was born in Connecticut, where he owns a
bell manufacturing company that that first started making bells in 1832. The manufacturing facility was struck by lightning last year and burned to the ground. I'm not sure why Benton called Bevin a "con man," but McConnell-land has roughly nine months to explain: The primary
will be held in May 2014.
If nothing else, Bevin's candidacy will be an unwelcome distraction for Republicans. The best spin the NRSC could come up with this:
Democrats are so worried about @AlisonForKY disastrous month they're focused on a #GOP candidate vs Mitch McConnell instead of her #kysen
— @BDayspring
The only problem with that spin, even if there's a kernel of truth to it? Given that McConnell is already calling Bevin an "East Coast con man" even before Bevin's formal announcement, Democrats aren't the only ones focused on the GOP primary.